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“Forbidden Art” exhibition in New York
The ceremonial opening of the “Forbidden Art” exhibition took place at the New York Park East Synagogue. The exhibition, prepared by the Auschwitz Museum, presents the story of 20 work of arts made illegally and at great risk by prisoners of the German Nazi concentration camp. Among the guests were ambassadors, consuls and diplomats from 18 countries, including: the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland — Ryszard Schnepf, Poland’s Ambassador to the UN — Ryszard Sarkowicz, Consul General of Israel in New York — Ido Aharoni, Consul General of Poland in New York — Ewa Junczyk Ziomecka, as well as a representative of the Friends of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation — Martin Karlinsky.
“Art was an expression of saving human dignity, a source of hope, but also a manner of documentation,” said Dr Piotr M.A. Cywiński, director of the Auschwitz Museum. “All this was prohibited in the camp. Today, these drawings are for us not only a lesson about humanity, but also a very strong testimony, legacy and commitment to the future,” he noted.
“For many, art was a way of survival,” said Marc Calconen, Israel’s Vice-ambassador to the UN.
“We can not recreate the past - it lies behind us now. However, we can shape the present and the future - for our children and grandchildren,” said Rabbi Schneier when addressing an appeal to support the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation. The Rabbi also declared that he would support the Perpetual Fund to maintain the authenticity of the Auschwitz Memorial Site.
During unofficial talks, further development of the Fund to maintain the authenticity of the Memorial Site was discussed. “The project conducted in 2009 by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation fills me with enormous hope,” underlined Dr Ryszar Schnepf, Poland’s Ambassador in the United States. “This project aims to preserve the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Site for the future generations. I am proud that the Polish government has joined in these activities and grateful to the United States, which has also supported the Foundation. I know that the Foundation is now looking for individual donors, and I wholeheartedly wish for this search to yield positive results,” Schnepf added.
The exhibition presents works of art made illegally in the camp. These are drawings documenting the reality of the camp, but also examples of art being an escape from the cruel reality. Among these, works can be found by Zofia Stępień, Halina Ołomucka, Józef Szajna, Franciszek Jaźwiecki, Włodzimierz Siwierski, Mieczysław Kościelniak, Peter Edel, Josef Sapcaru and others, including prisoners whose names and surnames are not always known. Enlarged and backlit photographic reproductions have been placed in specially designed wooden exhibition panes, which relate to the architecture of barracks. Each work is accompanied by historical commentary and relating archival fragments.
The exhibition is divided in two parts. The first part shows the reality of the camp—various scenes from the functioning of the camp as well as portraits of prisoners. The second part offers a look at various kinds of escape from camp reality: caricatures, albums containing greetings and fairy tales written by prisoners for their children.
In the folder accompanying the exhibition, we can read: “How to capture and express the unimaginable? How to represent the entire hell of Auschwitz with the help of minimal representational means in an atmosphere of unending terror? How to portray fear, helplessness and despair, but also the longing for freedom? How to avoid forfeiting humanity and the remnants of dignity in the inhuman world of Auschwitz? The works in this exhibition, the artists’ attempt to cope with the camp experience, hint to a degree at the answers to these questions.”
The “Forbidden Art” exhibition has already been presented in Orchard Lake in the state of Michigan at the Wayne State University in Detroit, at the Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, in Los Angeles at UCLA as well as at the Beth Shalom Synagogue in Las Vegas. Its tour of the United States and presentation in New York has taken place thanks to collaboration between the Museum, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, the Park East Synagogue, the American association Friends of Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation and the Polish Mission in Orchard Lake.
